Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Southampton Remedi Hand Beats Hollywood
The Southampton Remedi-Hand is a a myoelectrically driven device (control signals are derived from a flexor tensor muscle pair) with independently driven fingers and a two axis thumb allowing the hand 6 degrees of freedom. The palm of the hand and fingers are made of a light weight epoxy carbon fiber making the total assembly weight less than 500g - even lighter than a real hand.
(Southampton Remedi-Hand)
Dr Paul Chappell, a medical physicist from the University of Southampton in the UK, designed the prototype hand, which uses 6 sets of motors and gears so that each of the five fingers can move independently. This additional flexibility of movement provides a more complete emulation of human hand movement than other prosthetic devices. Dr Chappell remarks:
"With this hand you can clutch objects such as a ball, you can move the thumb out to one side and grip objects with the index finger in the way you do when opening a lock with a key, and you can wrap your fingers around an object in what we call the power grip – like the one you use when you hold a hammer or a microphone."
The Southampton Remedi-Hand also features a remarkably advanced feedback control system. Most prosthetic hands lack any intelligent feedback control system, requiring the user to rely on visual feedback to detect whether an object is slipping out of the hand or if an unnecessarily large force is being applied. The Remedi-Hand uses screen printed thick film piezoresistive resistors and piezoelectric dynamic sensors to provide a cheap and compact solution for detecting grip force and slip of an object from a prosthesis.
(Southampton Remedi-Hand Fingertip Control)
The Southampton Remedi-Hand uses a new type of fingertip that allows direct screen printing of thick-film sensors onto the surface. The fingertip has an array of thick-film sensors deposited on it to both measure the grip force exerted by the independently driven fingers and also to detect the onset of slippage of an object held in the hand. Two types of sensors used: piezoresistive thick-film sensors arranged to detect the force on the finger and piezoelectric thick-film sensors to detect the onset of slip.
Dr Chappell stated that "the aim is to create a hand with the sort of functionality a human hand has but also a sense of touch. This will let the hand know how tightly to grip an object like a coffee cup without dropping it, but not so tightly that it's crushed. It'll also have an integrated slip-sensor which will tell the hand if something is beginning to slip out of its grip so it can grip slightly harder. It'll be quite a clever system."
(Terminator Endoskeleton Hand and Arm)
Science fiction fans have been looking at very shiny robotic hands for a generation now, starting with the prosthetic device given to Luke Skywalker in Star Wars and the endoskeleton arm provided to Governor Schwarzenegger in the Terminator movies. If all goes well, the Southampton Remedi-Hand will be better than even Hollywood imagined.
Read more at the press release.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 9/8/2005)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 6 )
Related News Stories - (" Medical ")
MIT Computerized Bionic Leg Is Part Of The User
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain, through the mediation of the electronic brain in the leg.' - Charles Recour, 1949.
Bone-Building Drug Evenity Approved
'Compounds devised by the biochemists for the rapid building of bone...' - Edmond Hamilton, 1932.
BrainBridge Concept Transplant Of Human Head Proposed
'Briquet’s head seemed to think that to find and attach a new body to her head was as easy as to fit and sew a new dress.' - Alexander Belaev (1925)
Natural Gait With Prosthetic Connected To Nervous System
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...' - Charles Recour, 1949.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
AIs Turn Marxist Under Bad Management
'It was a general strike of the robots...'
Moscow Attacked By Hundreds Of Drones
'It hurtled on down with inconceivable speed until it was visible as thousands of tiny robot planes...'
Nifty Folding Electric Bicycles!
'Separate paths were provided for them...'
FTC: Says Ring Employees Illegally Surveilled Customers
'Then she looked up with a smile and moved closer to the camera.'
Switzerland May Cap Population At Ten Million
'The population of Castle Hagedorn was fixed...'
Project Silica Offers 'Long-Term' Digital Storage
'... folios and tapes and playable discs of platinum alloy.'
Can 'Tactical Umbrellas' Shield One From Drones
'... another corner of his mind began to think about the shields.'
Crystalline Structures In Space, You Say?
A massive space borne lifeform from ST:TNG.
Garçon! A Menu For Artemis II, S'il Vous Plaît
'Michel Ardan, as a Frenchman, was declared chief cook, an important function, which raised no rival.'
Amazing Photonic Crystal Light Sail
'That sail will be twenty thousand miles at the wide part.'
Blue Collar AI Goes To Work To Mine Its Own Crypto
Blue collar bot.
Rogue AI Replicated Itself
'Sapiro’s computer just kept dialing at random, hanging up on humans, until it got a fellow computer of the same type as itself.'
HandelBot Helps Two-Handed Robots Learn Piano
'I request that you feed the correlation between those dots and the levers of the panel into my memory banks.'
Woven Fiber Electronic Skin For Robots
'... all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
When AI Takes Its First Breath
Any suggestions?
Chinese Aircar Light And Airy, Not For Blade Runners
Daytime version.
